LSU is off to a mediocre start in the Southeastern Conference baseball race.

But it could be worse for the Tigers (19-9, 4-5 SEC) after dropping two out of three at home to Auburn over the weekend.

It was, in fact, much worse just a year ago when the Tigers opened SEC play 1-8 — yet still got things turned around enough to reach the super regionals of the NCAA tournament before the season ended.

And, if nothing else, the Tigers have plenty company with just about every SEC team not named Tennessee or Arkansas in similar straits.

The No. 1-ranked Vols are rolling through a remarkable season, fresh off of a road sweep of Vanderbilt to reach 9-0 in conference, 27-1 overall.

Arkansas leads the SEC West at 7-2, two games ahead Auburn at 5-4. Georgia is 6-3 in the East after sweeping Florida.

But none of the other 10 SEC teams have winning conference records.

LSU is in a tie for third place in West — a five-way tie with the rest of the division, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama and defending national champion Mississippi State.

In the East, the magic number is 3-6.

After Vanderbilt at 4-5, there are four teams — Missouri, Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina — all nestled together with that record.

LSU will be back in action Tuesday at home against Grambling, then head to Starkville for a weekend series against Mississippi State, with Friday’s opener televised on the SEC Network.

Head coach Jay Johnson seems to be settling in on a weekend pitching rotation with Blake Money on Fridays, while Ma’Khail Hilliard has given the Tigers two consecutive dominant starts and freshman Samuel Dutton has been encouraging while starting the last two series finales.

But defensive miscues, some of which don’t show up as errors in the box score, continue to haunt the Tigers.

That was never more evident than in the 6-5 middle-game loss to Auburn.

Auburn scored all of its six runs with two outs in the fifth inning, even while LSU had numerous opportunities to get out of the inning.

“Mistakes are made in a college baseball game,” Johnson said. “If we want to be a great team, we can’t make as many mistakes.”

It will likely be the difference in wallowing around in SEC mediocrity and making a move up the jumbled standings.